HYPE team members ubereatzz and Lolwetu Pakati spent a few hours with AKA just two weeks before his untimely passing. The rapper, producer and entrepreneur got to reflect on his illustrious career, from his Entity days to his upcoming album Mass Country…

By ubereatzz and Lolwetu Pakati

We had no idea that our first time meeting AKA would also be our last. A fortnight later, he would be gunned down in Durban, leaving the country in a state of shock and terror. News of his passing would send ripples worldwide, getting reported on by the BBC, The New York Times, Al Jazeera, The Washington Post, The Guardian and several other international publications.

Over the past two decades, AKA has built a legacy for himself that will live on forever. He is a household name in South Africa – a pioneer of English rap in the country’s mainstream music scene. This is how our interview played out…

Lolwetu and I arrive at AKA’s studio in Bryanston on a Thursday afternoon. Dripped out in all black, he is welcoming, offering us drinks, just to take the edge off. It’s when he drives us to Rockets that we gain new insights into him. The type of music he plays in his car is surprising; it’s Latin music by an artist called Roselia. “I don’t listen to hip-hop music because someone’s sound could unintentionally creep into my mind and I might accidentally sound like them,” he says. “I believe it might hinder my creativity and uniqueness. I don’t want to sound like anyone else; I want to sound like AKA. I mostly listen to other genres like Latin American music, a lot of dance music, kwaito… and country music, ’cause it’s a coloured people thing.” He later explains that is where he draws most of his samples and inspiration from.

At Rockets, we get a couple of shots and something to wash them down with and, of course, we can’t resist talking about all things hip-hop, especially the current state of SA hip-hop and its sound. “It’s hard to define (South) African hip-hop, ’cause how do you expect it to sound? Do you know what I’m saying? (South) African hip-hop is never going to sound like American hip-hop. Hip-hop has many rules and, as a culture, it is defined by those rules. I think it’s okay for hip-hop artists to branch out and experiment, but they need to be prepared to be judged by the rules of hip-hop,” says AKA.

He reveals himself to be a student of the genre he has dominated and remained relevant in. He gives me a lot of grief for not knowing the five elements of hip-hop, but the mentor in him comes to the fore as he takes the time to educate me. I’ll save you the Google search – it’s emceeing, deejaying, breakdancing, graffiti and beatboxing.

On our way back to the studio, we stop at a nearby garage and people are screaming his name. He is instantly recognised at every traffic light and he embraces his fans as though they are his friends or family – the sign of an artist who understands the concept of fans. It hasn’t always been like that, though, as he mentions he has had weird encounters with fans. “When I started blowing up, I didn’t have security at the time. I had a fan come knock on my hotel room door. It was a very weird experience.”

Before the fame: Learn, Build, Grow

When we sit down in the studio, he has a nice mix of Grey Goose and Appletiser in hand. He makes sure we are comfortable and starts reminiscing about the days before breaking into the mainstream in 2011 with his smash hit ‘Victory Lap’.

AKA started his career between the ages of 14 and 15 years old, when he formed a hip-hop group with his high school friends (Vice Versa and Greyhound), called Entity. The group disbanded after their 2005 album Royal School of Hip-Hop.

He had his first song ‘Do It’ published in HYPE Sessions Vol 25: Scripts ‘N Cutts, mixed by legendary DJ The Cutt, back when our magazine had hard copies and came with a CD. “I’d been working pretty much since 2009 as part of IV League doing production for Tuks, ProKid, JR… all of those guys. And that’s how I really started establishing a lot of contacts in the industry, learning from Pro and Jabba… R.I.P. to the boys,” he says sentimentally (and, in retrospect, perhaps unwittingly forebodingly).

 Altar Ego: For the culture

He quickly regains his composure after going off on a tangent as he thinks of the pioneers he looked up to on his come-up – pioneers he would join only two weeks later…

He readjusts himself in his seat and starts talking about his breakout single ‘Victory Lap’ and debut album Altar Ego. “I brought English rap to the forefront, pretty much,” he says. Facts. “Stogie T had done it before and a lot of other guys had done it before, but I think I was at an intersection, when social media was just beginning; South African hip-hop was released; brands were looking for a new somebody, I think, to put their money behind. I think it definitely played a part in bringing that to today. When it’s all said and done, I can say that is something that I did for the culture.”

The success of this album marked a shift in SA hip-hop history. In 2012, AKA became the first English rapper to win Best Male and Best Street Urban Music Album at the SAMAs. “I’m up against Jimmy Dludlu and I’m winning awards, which was great. Breath of fresh air; come in and just start riding high. At that time, the music was really basic – Fruity Loops, I was chopping samples, doing a little bit of drums – that whole album was made with a mouse and a keyboard,” he says, giggling about the realisation that he was around 23 or 24 years old – the prime age for most breakout stars in hip-hop. “What did I know about life? I was a kid; just a kid…” he shrugs.

“The biggest influence on my music was starting a band.”

SA hip-hop embraced him on his come-up as OGs and more established artists such as Buffalo Soulja, Stogie T, Khuli Chana, Amu, Pro and HHP all appeared on Altar Ego, which was produced by The IV League. Cape Town comedian Loyiso Gola performed comical skits depicting a range of accents from Cape Coloured to Nigerian.

From taxi routes to sho’t left in a jumbo jet: Levels

While Altar Ego brought him national stardom, by the time AKA dropped his sophomore album, Levels, he was becoming a continental and international star. Before walking us through that part of his legacy, he takes a sip from his glass and he jokingly refers to that phase of his life as “a whole lotta nonsense, beef and other stuff like touring Africa, which just took it to another level”. We can’t hold back our laughter.

After a successful debut, the sophomore album is make-or-break for any artist. In 2014, AKA proved that he was more than just a phase, and started his metamorphosis into being a hit maker. “I really started touring Africa,” he says, “‘All Eyes On Me’ with Burna, ‘Jealousy’… what else, ‘Run Jozi’… Geez, hit records. I did my first trip to Nigeria, then I started touring Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania and Ghana. I think, with Levels, it was the first time I went to the States. I think it was New York. I took my first trip to LA around then.

“The world was really opening up and it was also when Afrobeats started coming in. So, we managed to really position ourselves with ‘All Eyes On Me’… BBC 1Xtra in the UK. I think I also went there for the first time; I went on tour in the UK for about a month. So, the world was really opening up to me, and that was when I started really messing around with music. I started growing as a producer then. Started making more musical music – keyboards, guitars and things like that – but not to the level that it is now. Levels took me to another place – another level.”

 But with these new levels came new demons. In 2014, a beef started brewing between AKA and SA hip-hop’s breakout star of 2013, Cassper Nyovest. The beef lived beyond the 2010s and was never officially squashed. He tenses up when the beef is brought up during our conversation. “As far as my position is right now, what’s happened has happened; what’s done is done; there’s nothing that can be done about that,” AKA says. “Only thing that can be affected now is my future and, going forward, I’m just focused on my family and my money and just staying out of people’s business. So, I’d rather just keep my sh*t to myself, focus on my music and focus on my fans. I’m about to turn 35; I don’t think I have any business beefing with anybody. From my perspective, it’s dead to me; everything is dead to me. I don’t wish anybody any ill at all. I just want the best for me and my people.”

“Levels took me to another place – another level.”

The beef’s genesis remains a mystery. In a piece breaking down the beef on OkayAfrica, writer and former HYPE editor Sabelo Mkhabela wrote that “it all began with a tweet” in April of 2014, when Cassper Nyovest claimed that his song ‘Doc Shebeleza’ was the biggest song in South African hip-hop. Honestly, ‘Doc Shebeleza’ was buzzing and was doing serious numbers on DataFileHost. The tweet in question: “No.1 on iTunes, not Zippyshare… know the difference.” ‘Congratulate’ indeed was number one on South Africa’s iTunes charts.

“We got along,” AKA recalls, before explaining what started the beef. “I think we even got into the studio once or twice and it was cool, but I think it’s a case of two people… ‘there’s not enough room for both of us’ kind of mentality. You get two dominant male dogs together in a room, it’s not gonna work out well. So, I think it’s a little bit of that,” he says.

“I don’t wish anybody any ill at all. I just want the best for me and my people.”

Be Careful What You Wish For: “ANATII taught me to have a bit more fun with my records”

But the same scenario with multi-talented artist ANATII led to one of the best collab tapes in SA hip-hop history – Be Careful What You Wish For – which gave us timeless hits such as ‘10 Fingers’ and ‘Don’t Forget To Pray’.

He admits working with ANATII was challenging at first. “It was extremely difficult,” he says. “Me and ANATII, we both think we know everything, so it was difficult at the start, trying to get those two energies to come together. But ANATII is a really talented musician – a really deep, introspective guy – and I think he learnt a lot from Be Careful What You Wish For.

“In fact, Be Careful What You Wish For was the first time he actually started rapping in Xhosa, ’cause I kind of persuaded him to do it, me and Yanga. It’s the time I was also really working a lot with Yanga. His sound has pretty much changed since then. He used to do English; straight English stuff.”

“Me and ANATII, we both think we know everything, so it was difficult at the start…”

AKA further shares that ANATII changed how he looks at production. “So, I also learnt a lot from ANATII about different sounds. ’Cause when you’re stuck in your own way as a producer, you’re stuck to one thing, and ANATII gave me a different perspective. I think ANATII also taught me to have a bit more fun with my records. I wanted to always be very precise,” AKA says.

Touch My Blood

That explains the eclecticism of the body of work that followed – Touch My Blood, his third studio album – released in 2018. “That was my first independent album,” he says. Touch My Blood dropped after his separation from the reputable record label and management company Vth Season in 2017.

Touch My Blood bridged the gap between hip-hop and other genres AKA has an interest in – R&B, Afropop, Afrobeats and house. “I think the biggest influence on my music was starting a band,” he says. “It allowed me to go all over the world and play music all over the world, because real musicians play guitars, drums and things. I just think it gave my music a richer texture. So, when it came to Touch My Blood, that texture really started coming in, and that mode and that zone of really taking my time with production and making music, with the ideal of making music for the stage.”

This decision to play with a band enabled him to join the exclusive club of South African hip-hop artists – HHP, YoungstaCPT, Prophets of Da City and Khuli Chana, among a few others – who’ve played at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival.

Polarising: Bhovamania and You’re Welcome

He followed up his 2018 classic with his most divisive project, Bhovamania, in 2020. I make him aware it’s my least favourite project in his catalogue and he laughs. “A lot of people don’t like it, it’s very polarising, but I think that, with time, it’s going to be a cult classic,” he says. “It was a different time; it was the start of amapiano; it was the middle of the pandemic. That’s why it wasn’t an album, ’cause I wanted to experiment, and I wanted to find just something in the music space that I could hold onto. Not every album or project is what people are going to like, and that’s fine, because there are people who do like it and, as a musician, there’s always another chance.”

He comes across as someone who understands that a listener’s opinion about his music is hardly a personal attack, but just a matter of how the music made them feel. “So, when it comes to people liking or not liking stuff, I don’t take that personally, because for me, it represented therapy; it represented something that I needed to do at the time. There are a lot of great songs on that project, and I think, in time, people will really grow to love it,” he says.

Bhovamania, although a divisive EP, has hits like ‘Energy’ featuring Gemini Major and ‘Casino’ featuring Sho Majozi and FLVME. It also came with ‘Finessin’’, a song in which he featured his fiancée at the time, Anele “Nelli” Tembe, whom he also sang about on the song ‘Cross My Heart’. Nelli would pass away tragically the following year – she was reported to have jumped out of a hotel window in Cape Town.

 “Me and Costa Titch started just hanging out and he brought me out of my shell, saying, ‘Come out, come make music again, come start performing again.”

Nelli’s death was and still is a very sensitive issue and it led the star to reconnect with himself, his family and his music while grieving. “So, when I had gone through all of the sh*t and I was ready to start making music again, Riky reached out to me: ‘There’s this kid, Costa Titch, who has a song called ‘Nkalakatha’. Do you want to do a remix of the song?’ And, I thought, hey, man, this is a really cool song; interesting guy. I jumped on the remix – that was crazy.”

The synergy he felt when he hopped on Costa’s song led to a whole project titled You’re Welcome with the Mpumalanga-born rapper and dancer. “He and I started just hanging out, and he brought me out of my shell, saying, ‘Come out, come make music again, come start performing again.’

“So, another album where I just wanted to explore a sound and just explore new vibes and new energy; young people. And he took me all over, to places I’d normally never go, like Braam and all these places… took me to go see the new wave, the kids, and introduced me to all these guys, which was cool for me to get out of my shell. And we just did a little tape – that was towards the end of the pandemic – and I look back to that with fond memories; it was a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun.”

Outside of music, he mentions that his girlfriend, rap superstar Nadia Nakai, contributed to his healing. With matching tattoos and cute studio time pics or clips, the pair have been in a whirlwind romance for a while now. AKA blushes like a schoolboy when he talks about her and their relationship. “I’m in a great relationship and Nadia’s an amazing woman, and she’s really helped. The person you see sitting in front of you today – a lot of that credit should go to her; she’s really been patient and she’s really, in many ways, just brought me back to life,” AKA says.

He seems to have a great deal of love and respect for her. I couldn’t help but notice a photo of Nadia on his home and lock screen wallpaper – something he doesn’t hide as he gushes over her. “After everything happened and I lost my fiancée Nelli in April 2021, I was going through a tough time, and Nadia was really there for me, and we hit it off. There are a lot of things I admire about her, like her work ethic. She’s coming back with a lot of music this year. I’m also just enjoying seeing her work and how she works; I’ve learnt a lot from her. About just being calm and respecting your brand, and knowing your limitations, and all types of things.”

Mass Country: “A massive amount of different elements”

AKA closed off 2022 on a high as ‘Lemons (Lemonade)’, his collaborative single with Nasty C, who he co-signed during his come-up, became a national hit. The song topped the charts and made Rolling Stone’s “The 40 Best Afropop Songs of 2022”. The video has amassed four million views in four months on YouTube.

‘Lemons (Lemonade)’ alongside two other singles, ‘Paradise’ and ‘Prada’, helped bring excitement to his upcoming album Mass Country, which he has been working on for the last two years. “I started working on Mass Country maybe the day after Anele’s funeral. As soon as I got back to Joburg, I said, listen, I need to get all of this out of me and put this into music. So, you’ll hear in Mass Country, there’s music that’s recorded close to that time, and then there’s music that’s recorded now. So, the music close to that time is very deep, dark, sad feelings, and then, as time goes on and as things get better, you hear it gets more joyous and more hopeful, and more forward and more fun – ‘Prada’ and ‘Lemons (Lemonade)’,” he says.

Breaking down the title, he makes us aware that the phrase “Mass Country” sounds similar to “maskandi”. The title speaks to the expansiveness of the record, he says. “There’s a massive amount of different elements,” AKA says. “And then I want it to sound like country music. I grew up listening to country music – coloured people like country. Especially if you’re from Cape Town, country music is a big thing. And, you know how maskandi is considered to be our South African version of country music?” We burst into laughter as that notion is something we have heard too often. We nod and he continues, “So, I wanted to put those worlds together: hip-hop, a bit of log drum, kwaito, rock ’n’ roll… I wanted to put as many genres as I could together. And I wanted it to be like mass country… this is super South African, so it’s like mass South African. It’s for the masses of the country, you get me? But, at the same time, it’s from the soil; it’s from the earth.”

The cover art is a portrait of AKA drawn and created by accomplished graphic designer Karabo Poppy. It captures the essence of the sound AKA is going for. “I saw the KFC collaboration and I thought, oh my God, this is amazing. A graphic designer is one thing, but an artist who can draw is a completely different thing. I spoke to her, we had a meeting, we sat, it took a while… it took about a month for us to make that cover – she sent me things, I sent it back, she sent it back.

“My experience collaborating with her was fantastic; she’s an awesome person. Really cool, really chilled and one of the boys. So, I wanted to make something like that and, obviously, with all my covers, I always put my face on it.”

Unaware that he does not have long to live, AKA sounds excited about the future, with plans to shoot visuals for ‘Prada’ and let fans decide which other songs to shoot visuals for after the album comes out. He tells us how proud he is of what he achieved in his six-year-long partnership with premium vodka brand Cruz Vodka, which came to an end in November 2022. “I changed the entire alcohol game. We sold nearly two million bottles of that stuff. So, let it be known that what we did there – it can never be taken away. It will always be the thing that blew the game wide open because then brands saw, ‘Oh, this is the recipe,’ and then they duplicated it,” he says. “So, going forward this year, I’m starting my own, just solely my own, products this year. I can’t tell you too much about it, but this year we’re going to be dropping one or two products.”

Musically? “This year, I don’t want to do gigs anymore. I wanna do arenas only, just arenas. If your city has an ICC, that’s where you’ll find me. Obviously, we’ll do gigs in the first half of the year, like birthdays and all that stuff. For the most part, I want to put on big productions this year,” he says.

Little did we all know none of this would have a chance to come to fruition. Rest in peace, Supa Mega.

Keep an eye on our website and socials for stories from previous issues of HYPE magazine, as we re-live our journey with AKA.

This interview appears in issue 28 of our monthly ezine available for purchase here.

The post [Cover Story] AKA: The Legacy appeared first on HYPE Magazine.

REAL HIP HOP ! WE OUTCHEA @blxckie___ @Nasty_CSA pic.twitter.com/BIesJQK2pL

— DJ D Double D (@DJDdoubleD) October 9, 2022

Daisies came with many such moments – Kehlani had an impromptu moment with Cape Town-based rapper Hanna, while A-Reece was joined by Jay Jody to perform ‘F*ck the World’ and 25K for ‘Red Dragon’. Maglera Doe Boy brought out both Yanga Chief and 25K during his set, and Herc Cut The Lights rocked the wheels of steel with Street Fest head honcho NotBenjamin.

As South African hip-hop goes through a phase of self-reinvention, it appears to be moving as a united force, the way amapiano has been lauded for operating.

https://twitter.com/magleradoeboy/status/1579256247752138753?s=46&t=jwKsg2tInth7DSgesz138A

But these moments weren’t just limited to South African artists. The Dreamville crew – Bas, Lute, Cozz, Nitrane – also had plenty of moments, including, most notably, performing their collaborative label hits ‘Down Bad’ and ‘Under The Sun – truly magical moments.

Beyond hip-hop moments, Rocking The Daisies lived up to the hype. Across all its stages, mainstream, left field, international and local artists dished out top-tier performances, while the extensive DJ line-up kept fans on their feet.

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A post shared by NOTBENJAMIN (@notbenjamin_)

In the Johnnie Walker Flavour Lounge where HYPE and a few other publications were hosted alongside influencers and other guests, the tunes went from old-school kwaito to bubblegum and contemporary hip-hop and dance music, delivered by the likes of Ponahalo, Lelowhatsgood and plenty of others.

As usual, Daisies was a crucible of genres, ranging from amapiano to EDM, R&B and more.

Being the first Daisies since 2019, and the first one with Johnnie Walker as the main brand partner, the pressure was on to deliver – and they did. The festival ran efficiently without major hiccups and delivered a memorable cultural experience.

The post Recap: Hip-hop showed unity at Rocking The Daisies appeared first on HYPE Magazine.

By Sabelo Mkhabela

ANATII’s new single ‘PUNISHER’ seems like it’s a slapper; it has the vigorous percussion, heavy bass and euphoric chants that light up your soul with glee, the same way his 2018 hit ‘Thixo Onofefe’ did. I could be wrong, though. All I’ve heard of the song is a snippet. ‘PUNISHER’ is not a song you can just go on Spotify and stream whenever you feel like it. You have to, uhm, mint it.

ANATII decided to release his first single in four years as an NFT. This was shortly after he removed all his albums from streaming platforms in June. He later tweeted, “time for creators to take control. sell art not your soul.” The point ANATII was making is what many proponents of artists selling NFTs have been saying, it’s not a new concept; the more middlemen you eliminate as an artist, the better. Financially, streaming doesn’t prioritise the artist. As a result, a reasonable number of artists have boycotted platforms like Spotify over the years. More about that here.

THE ELECTRONIC BUSHMAN

“You know, just being able to put your music out, all your art seamlessly, without having to wait on tons of developers, pay all these exorbitant costs. It’s just completely seamless and straight to the public and I love it,” ANATII explained his move in a space he hosted upon the release of ‘PUNISHER’, about a week since the removal of his catalogue from DSPs.

He told fans that, during his time away from the public eye, he was “building behind the scenes within the Web3 space”. He mentioned that some of the projects he’d been working on weren’t even related to music. “We been working on creating our own wallet just to serve the continent and the rest of the world that serves the needs of the everyday man, and you know, the different utilities that we need, from electricity to airtime, things like that and just solving real problems that are on the ground here on the continent,” he said.

PUNISHER MINT SITE IS NOW LIVEhttps://t.co/ClGEHRGKy5 #PUNISHER

powered by: @fairxyz

— ANATII (@ANATII) July 7, 2022

“But on the creative side, working on music, working on film, photography, art… I’ve been creating in a whole new way, and being able to express myself through the NFTs has been the greatest platform because we are in control.”

He explained the main drawcard of Web3 for him: “Web3 is important for us right now because our anonymity, our privacy, our access to finance, and content, and all this, has been gate-kept by so many different people, whether it’s corporate, government, or any entity of that nature. So Web3 creates a new way for us to interact and engage with each other. I’m also big on creating a bridge between Web2 and Web3. So, we’re able to connect with each other and bridge the gap in terms of accessibility.” Nothing off-brand for THE ELECTRONIC BUSHMAN.

F*ck with your soul like Ether

By now, you should know what an NFT is, or at least what the acronym stands for: “non-fungible token” which is, as Forbes described it, a digital asset that represents real-world objects like art, music, in-game items and videos. They are bought and sold online, frequently with cryptocurrency, and they are generally encoded with the same underlying software as many cryptos.

Which means, to purchase an NFT, you need cryptocurrency; most NFTs, including ‘PUNISHER’, are sold in ETH (Ether), one of the many cryptocurrencies used in such transactions. One ETH is worth approximately US$1500 or R26k. Anatii’s ‘PUNISHER’ goes for 0.08 ETH (US$122.54 or R2054).

That may sound like an exorbitant amount to pay for a song. But, by buying an NFT, you aren’t just buying the music, you are also buying ownership, like collecting a piece of art. As much as those assets can be duplicated, the owner remains the owner and that ownership is registered in the blockchain. Think about it this way: you and your family own the copy of “The Last Supper” that hangs in your living room, but neither your mom nor dad own the artwork.

https://twitter.com/MAJORLEAGUEDJZ/status/1466278085683302401

Only 816 NFTs of ‘PUNISHER’ are available on the fair.xyz platform where the song is sold. Essentially, that means there will come a time when the song is sold out (the same way CDs used to sell out at Musica and Look & Listen).

“When you go to a gallery, people don’t question the price of an art piece on display, and I’m like, why can’t we do that for music?” independent rapper and multimedia artist Latashá Alcindor was quoted by XXL as saying of NFTs. “Why can’t music be seen like a Basquiat or like Kara Walker? It needs to be seen in that same world because the energy that some artists are putting into their music is just as full.”

Latashá is one of the many US hip-hop artists and creators who are deep down the NFT rabbit hole, where inside are fine artists, digital artists, collectors and venture capitalists. Rappers who have cashed in on NFTs include Soulja Boy who, last year, sold his tweets (one was sold for US$1,288, another for US$200) and Nas, who allowed fans to buy portions of the streaming rights for his songs ‘Rare’ and ‘Ultra Black’ which can be bought at different tiers, giving owners between 0.0113% and 2.14% of the rights of both songs, respectively. Before the release of his latest album, Drill Music In Zion, Lupe Fiasco released an NFT range which he called LFT. Benefits of purchasing the LFT included participating in the “meta-narrative” surrounding the new album and gaining access to a Drill Music in Zion private listening party.

Opportunity for early investors

South African artists who’ve released NFTs include Major League DJz, DJ Sbu, The Kiffness, and recently, ANATII, who’s one of the first in hip-hop. But they certainly won’t be the only ones. For instance, in the last interview he did with HYPE, Nasty C revealed he would be dropping an NFT project soon.

There haven’t been any reports about how well (or not) Major League’s stunning digital art piece portraying the twins or DJ Sbu’s levitating figure have done.

According to the findings of Music In Africa’s “Revenue Streams for Music Creators in South Africa 2022” report, NFTs are already contributing an average monthly income of R22,520 for early investors in the South African music industry.

Are South Africans ready?

But, thus far, the attitude towards NFTs in South African music has been lukewarm as the craze hasn’t quite caught on in the South African music industry the way it has in the US and other parts of the world over the last two years. It makes sense. We are already behind when it comes to streaming and many other technologies, so an artist asking us to get into cryptocurrency to buy their music feels a bit exclusionary and makes them appear a tad bit out of touch.

“I don’t wanna make it tough for the listeners to get access to me,” said Pretoria rapper Tyson Sybateli during the African Music Business Update Twitter space held in July by Sounds of the South. “Already most of the dudes locally ain’t streaming, they downloading off Fakaza. I went double platinum on Fakaza this year, I know it.”

Music journalist and music business junky Mayuyuka Kaunda, who was co-hosting the space, earned himself Tyson’s respect when he told the rapper that he doesn’t necessarily have to sell his actual music as NFTs. “It can be anything attached to the music,” Mayuyuka said. “You shouldn’t think of Web3 as the music living on there. You can have a visual world that you can explore. You don’t have to make the track an NFT. It can be anything attached to the music like a no-face piece of art or something. NFTs shouldn’t be looked at as the music itself living there. It’s all these other options, something like Lupe’s artworks. It becomes another form of art. But it can live in a totally separate world. The fact that you already have a visual way of communicating (whether it’s the snake emoji or the [blurred out] face), that might help you exist in worlds like that.”

Meet us halfway

You’re thinking what I’m thinking too? ANATII’s music could have remained on streaming platforms and he could have asked us to mint the artwork perhaps or any other visual piece of art. Because, as it stands, how many people will be singing along to ‘PUNISHER’ at shows? I know my old-fashioned ass with my Spotify and Apple Music subscriptions won’t.

One of the representatives of fair.xyz noted during the space that, perhaps, to ease South Africans into this new terrain, they could have enabled rand payments. Which is what Momint, South Africa’s first NFT-based marketplace for content creators did when it launched in May 2021.

Perhaps, when Africans adopt western mediums, an effort must be made to meet the people halfway by keeping in mind how we move down here. A localised approach to Web3 and all it comes with could go a long way. Even KFC added a pap option to their signature Streetwise meals.

For now, I’m just crossing my fingers that the upcoming Nasty C mixtape won’t be released as an NFT. Because I know I speak for most fans when I say I ain’t minting sh*t in Ether. The assumption here, of course, is that South African fans are still part of our artists’ target market. And assumptions can be wrong.

This article appears in issue 22 of the monthly HYPE ezine available for purchase here.

The post ANATII, South African hip-hop and NFTs: How can artists and fans meet each other halfway? appeared first on HYPE Magazine.

By Sabelo Mkhabela

One of the hottest South African hip-hop songs at the moment is the street banger ‘Never Ride’ by Pretoria producer MashBeatz, featuring Thato Saul repping PTA, and Maglera Doe Boy repping Klerksdorp (also known as Maglera). ‘Never Ride’ has a hook that could pass for a short verse. One of its biggest boosters is a 480p visualiser that treats itself like a music video; MashBeatz, Thato Saul and MDB perform in a studio in the presence of a gang of people. The whole clip is embellished with a night vision filter.

Among many others, 25K, Maglera Doe Boy, Thato Saul, Dee Koala, LOOKATUPS, Holy Alpha and Bravo Le Roux are some of the leaders of South Africa’s new wave of street rappers. Hailing mainly from Pretoria and Cape Town, they don’t only tell stories from the hood; they express themselves in street slang. Kasi trap goes by different names – straata, ringz, istrato – which all concern the streets, street culture and street lingo.

This wave comes at a time when mainstream interest in South African music is more on amapiano than hip-hop. Busiswa said during the ACCES music conference in November last year: “We are having a lot of conversations right now on social media about SA popular music being amapiano and amapiano only. We love amapiano but now there’s a whole entire hip-hop industry, where young black kids are doing it really well in their languages in really original ways, but they are not getting an opportunity because it feels like if we are doing this, this is the only thing we can be doing right now.”

As a result, South African hip-hop finds itself back on the streets. It’s an opportunity to reckon with itself after a period of mainstream success in the mid-2010s and, honestly, losing touch a little. The streets are where hip-hop exists in its rawest form, with little care for industry approval.

“Street rap just never dies,” said Pusha T in a Breakfast Club interview two months ago. “I feel like it just comes in different forms. It’s the cornerstone of rap. Street rap birthed this whole thing.”

In South Africa, street rap or kasi rap dominated the 2000s and early 2010s through Joburg-based acts like the late PRO, F-Eezy, Deep Soweto, Siya Shezi and the like, all great storytellers, fluent in tsotsitaal, and with a shared ability to play with words over grimy beats.

A memorable era in kasi rap is The Full Clip With Siz n Scoop show, which was on air between 2009 and 2014 on YFM. The show became the breeding ground for kasi rappers such as Mickey M, Siya Shezi and MT, who remain iconic names in the subgenre today.

SPeeKa, a producer who gained prominence from providing beats for The Full Clip freestyles, is still a powerhouse of kasi rap through his stream of EPs and the YouTube series Sotra Cyphers. He describes kasi rap as “rap music told in South African street slang” and “a more lyrically evolved form of kwaito”.

Rappers like Zakwe, Duncan, Cassper Nyovest, K.O, Kwesta and Big Zulu still make music that has elements of kasi rap, from the kwaito influence to the storytelling, wordplay and, of course, the slang.

Kasi rap has always been the antithesis to the highly US-influenced side of SA hip-hop. As Kwesta rapped in ‘Spirit’: “Abangas’qedi, joe; bathi, ‘skrrrr’, sathi, ‘hey, ningaskhinyi’.”

Language will always be a debating point in SA hip-hop, and spitting in vernac is still the easiest way for rappers to connect to the streets. “The biggest insight that rappers should take from [amapiano] is that the lyrics are things that, as soon as you walk out the gate, you see [them],” said ASAP Shembe during an interview with DJ Switch. “You should be able to see the things that people are rapping about. The guys who have really figured it out in terms of hip-hop, it’s PTA guys [and] Khayelitsha and Gugulethu [rappers].” The aesthetic extends to other regions beyond Gauteng and the Western Cape; for instance, Eastern Cape has its own wave of kasi trap; rappers like Flash Ikumkani and Bhut’Legend all rap in lingo that’s unique to their parts of the country.

25K’s debut album Pheli Makaveli feels like an epic gangster flick set in his hood, Pheli, in Atteridgeville, and it’s told in Sepitori the way the Narcos series is always in Spanish. You can’t add subtitles to audio, so, to assist fans in understanding his recollections of growing up in Pheli, hustling and eventually becoming a rap star, 25K released a “Pheli Makaveli  Dictionary” on Instagram after the release of Pheli Makaveli. “I draw inspiration from the streets,” 25K said in his Pheli Makaveli documentary.

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Street rap may be largely associated with the drug trade in the US – kool G Rap, 90s’ Jay-Z, The Clipse, T.I. and Migos but, in a South African context, it is that and more; not all street n*ggas are trappers in Mzansi.

So, not all street rap in South Africa is rooted in trappin’ in the classical sense; pushing product. The likes of Thato Saul, SimulationRxps, Dee Koala and Bravo Le Roux tell stories from the streets, reflect and show love to it. Their music doesn’t contain that much drug talk, but it’s still unquestionably street.

Describing the themes he explored in his debut album live from elokshini, SimulationRxps told former HYPE editor Roo, “live from elokshini for me is art/music used to paint how beautiful and how dark the township is.” He also spoke about being inspired by Durban kwaito star L’vovo Derrango’s 2007 debut album Derrango, which he was bumping before commencing work on live from elokshini: “That album was so raw and relatable; the stories he was telling on that album still make sense to this day. [K.O’s] Skhanda Republic was also one of the albums I was bumping a lot.”

On, ‘Yizo Yizo’, a single from live from elokshini, SimulationRxps and Bravo Le Roux, who’s featured in the song, reflect on the show’s influence in their lives and those of young people in general at the time. “Yabona ekasi sasithi make sure 8:30 semakwethu phambi kweTV/ That’s the same reason why iiboys zazingaphathi iskaftina/ cause ubhaka wayesindwa yintshiza,” SimulationRxps raps.

Before Bravo Le Roux dropped his debut album, International Gubevu, in 2021, he teamed up with DJ Switch for the mixtape The Rise of Istrato. The project is streets to the core, both content-wise and sonically. “To most of the people abakhulele estratweni, istrato is like your second parent,” says Leo Pretty August on the intro for the song ‘Noba Yintoni’. “You learn a lot from istrato, sometimes even more than what you learn under the roof that you sleep in.”

In 2021, music journalist Mayuyuka Kaunda called Maglera Doe Boy’s debut album 2Player [The Digital Score] “an engrossing love letter to South Africa’s street corners” and “a Shakespearean spin on township rap”. 2Player [The Digital Score]’s entry point into Maglera Doe Boy’s experiences as a township kid is arcade games (hence the name). Maglera Doe Boy is a major player of South African street rap; a verse from the motswakolista is a cheat code in the game right now. His and Ginger Trill’s appearance on Boity’s ‘018’s Finest’ led to a grimy visual that brought the TV superstar back to the streets. For the video, she recruited Botswana

Kasi rap in the 2000s had cypher sessions for rappers to showcase their skills. But, today, it exists in a world where the worldwide web affords rappers more eyes and ears. They may not be household names like AKA and Cassper Nyovest yet, but their cult followings are substantially bigger and more devoted than those from the previous generation.

Another great example is the Afrikaans drill scene of the Western Cape. Just like the Xhosa rappers discussed above have made the trap sound theirs, Afrikaaps (a version of Afrikaans spoken by coloured people) speaking rappers from the Western Cape are spitting over drill beats in vernac. “The grimy sound was the perfect tone to express myself,” prominent drill rapper Matt Levai from Laingville was quoted as saying by Bubblegum Club. “It made me tap into my Afrikaans roots, our Cape slang. I started looking around me, here in Kaapstad, in the Cape Flats, and I felt inspiration like never before. While everyone was trying to sound like the drill artists from the US and UK, I said, ‘Woi, masekines, die is os se tyd nou.’”

More Western Cape drill rappers such as Young OG CPT and Kulture Gang have released street hits that racked up tens of thousands of views on YouTube. Those videos, shot almost exclusively in the hood, show the rappers flanked by the masses; a style of music video that was associated with pioneering Cape Town lyricist YoungstaCPT. The majority of street rap videos are filmed in the hood in less constrained environments that enable rappers to share their moments with their people.

The Afrikaans drill scene is one of many popping drill scenes on the continent; Ghana’s drill scene is international, so is Kenya’s. By comparison, Cape Town’s scene is still in its infancy, but is already showing promise.

Street rap, which has always been too grimy for top-40 radio and other commercial platforms, is poppin, thanks to the internet and its DIY approach. And, luckily for fans, in the digital age, DIY and independence aren’t synonymous with low quality, because of the accessibility of equipment and savviness of fans. But, some street rappers have partnered up with labels; 25K released Pheli Makaveli through SONY Music Africa, Holy Alpha recently joined Def Jam Africa, and Maglera Doe Boy is releasing his official debut album Diaspora through Universal Music South Africa. The streets is up.

Check out our playlist of South Africa’s new wave of street raps:

The post Back to the streets: Pretoria and Cape Town are leading the resurgence of street rap in South Africa appeared first on HYPE Magazine.

 SPeeKa got used to having rappers drop freestyles over his beats during the glory days of YFM’s Full Clip with Siz n Scoop. Today, Speeka’s beats are still getting destroyed by rappers on his own platform, Sotra Cyphers, a YouTube series he started in 2016.

Watching SPeeKa recording an episode of Sotra Cyphers is like watching a kid in a candy store. SPeeKa has an appreciation for great raps, and below, he count down 10 of his favourite Sotra Cyphers. He was spoiled for choice, having hosted a gang of rappers that range from legends like Stogie T, Hymphatic Thabs and Siya Shezi to the likes of Touchline, MaseVen and Anzo.

10. PART 44 (Jeffery Negligent, Katz Moona & KIDcyler)

“This was the last episode to drop in 2021. All three cats were discovered on Facebook after I had asked for MCs to drop me clips of themselves rapping. It turned out to be one of my favourite episodes to date.”

9. Fergason (KZN Lockdown Cypher Meets Sotra Cyphers S2) 

“On the second season of my collaborative series [with Zakwe’s KZN Lockdown Cypher], I kicked things off with this verse from the Snake Park representative, Fergason. In this episode, she confidently makes a statement aimed at the rest of her peers that simply states, ‘Don’t play with me’. The verse, where she mentions that she was influenced by the late great PRO, even got a reaction by TS Records legend DJ Sbu on TikTok, calling her ‘PRO resurrected’.”

8. Hymphatic Thabs Sotra Cyphers Exclusive

“In early 2021, I had the honour of having the legendary Hymphatic Thabs, one of the most influential MCs of his generation. It’s also the first episode to feature a South African Hip-Hop Museum Hall of Fame Inductee.”

7. F-Eezy (KZN Lockdown Cypher Meets Sotra Cyphers S1) 

“For the finale of the first season of my collaborative series with Zakwe (KZN Lockdown Cypher Meets Sotra Cyphers), I called in one of the Slaghuis legends, F-Eezy, and he dropped one of the best verses I heard in 2021.” 

6. Anzo Sotra Cyphers Exclusive

“Just before going on to do some amazing things with Sjava’s 1020 Cartel, Anzo pulled up to the Sotra Cyphers head quarters to deliver an impressive display of lyrical gymnastics.”

5. SoniQ Sotra Cyphers Exclusive

“SoniQ floats effortlessly on his Sotra Cyphers exclusive, bringing with him nothing but unmatched skill and experience.”

4. PART 1 (with MaseVen, Anzo, Zwes Tornado, Big Zulu & NubianQueen Masisi) 

“Shot on the 18 May 2016, during a studio session for MaseVen’s album Havoc Reloaded, this is undoubtedly the most important episode of the series. The public reaction to this episode is probably the main reason why, 6 years later, I’m still dropping episodes.”

3. One Way (KZN Lockdown Cypher Meets Sotra Cyphers S3) 

“In the season finale of the third installment of my collaborative series with Zakwe (KZN Lockdown Cypher Meets Sotra Cyphers), One Way delivered, arguably, one of the best verses of 2022.”

2. PART 39 (with Tony Dangler & illy Amin) 

“Speaking as a huge fan of South African hip-hop supergroup ReVivolution, this episode is everything that I had hoped it would be. Both Tony and illy drop absolutely flawless verses in this one.”

1. Stogie T Sotra Cyphers Exclusive 

“Every Stogie T verse is an event. This one was no different. The legendary MC proved once again why he remains in the number 1 spot of most greatest African MCs of all-time top 5 lists.” 

Subscribe to Sotra Cyphers on YouTube and support the movement by copping Sotra Cyphers merch which can be ordered via WhatsApp. Simply text your name, where you’re from and the item (T-shirt or hoodie) you’d like to 076 674 8216. 

Follow Speeka on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.

Make sure you check out an interview with SPeeKa about Sotra Cyphers in issue 21 of our monthly ezine with Tyson Sybateli on the cover, available for purchase here. 

The post Top 10 Sotra Cyphers episodes ranked appeared first on HYPE Magazine.

By The Observer

Drill is proving popular on the continent. Kenya and Ghana’s localised version of the subgenre which started in Chicago and travelled to the UK are international, having received coverage from Complex, BBC, OkayAfrica and other Western publications. Ghana’s version is called Asakaa which is defined as a Twi-infused iteration of drill.

South African rappers such as Cassper Nyovest and Roiii have experimented with drill, but it’s in the Western Cape where drill as a movement is poppin’.  Rappers such as Matt Levai from Laingville, Fabreze from George and Young OG CPT, from the Mother City, are at the forefront of the movement which could soon take the rest of SA by storm. Afrikaans drill clips go viral on TikTok and the music videos rack up tens of thousands (a few have surpassed 100K) of views.

The music is aggressive, the music videos are equally grimy. If you are educated enough to understand Afrikaaps (the version of Afrikaans spoken by Coloured people in the Cape Flats and other parts of the Western Cape), you’ll be taken through dark tales of hustling, survival and triumph over drill’s defining basslines and 808s.

Matt Levai, who is also a producer, was recently quoted by Bubblegum Club as saying, about his forays into drill:

“The grimy sound was the perfect tone to express myself. It made me tap into my Afrikaans roots, our Cape Slang. I started looking around me, here in Kaapstad, in the Cape Flats, and I felt inspiration like never before. While everyone was trying to sound like the Drill artist from the US and UK, I said, ‘Woi, masekines, die is os se tyd nou.’”

Here are 10 music videos, listed in no particular order, that will get you up to speed with the Afrikaans drill movement:

Matt Levai ‘Ghetto Wave’

Young OG CPT x Kulture Gang ‘Kaapstad is Myne’

Fabreze ‘Rambo’

Kidd Burban ft. Matt Levai ‘Wilson Block’

Fabreze x Matt Levai ‘Hayi Kwedini’

Kidd Burban x UnknownCS x IrieCS ‘Body Remix’

Luda G ft Peng ‘Kani Wagi’

Fabreze ‘4gang’

Young OG CPT X Kulture Gang ‘David Beckham’

JK Music SA ft. JP Mellow ‘Clash Remix’

More Afrikaans drill music videos:

The post Afrikaans drill in 10 music videos: Matt Levai, Fabreze, Young OG CPT and more appeared first on HYPE Magazine.

By The Observer

No Fear of Time is the second album by the Brooklyn super duo Black Star (consisting of Talib Kweli and yasiin bey) in 24 years – a follow-up to their self-titled classic debut, released in 1998. Released in early May, No Fear of Time is an album that Black Star fans have been waiting for… for two decades.

But, unlike the majority of albums that drop in this era, No Fear of Time is not streaming on mainstream platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, TIDAL and Deezer. Instead, it’s available on Luminary – the podcast platform where yasiin bey, Talib Kweli and their friend Dave Chapelle host their own podcast, The Midnight Miracle (the podcast is also available on Spotify). Luminary has been labelled “the Netflix of podcasts”, as the platform hosts original productions.

When asked who the audience for this album is – in an episode of The Midnight Miracle titled ‘Bugs Bunny Mathematicx’ – yasiin bey replied, “Anyone who values the Black Star album; the same n*ggas who spend money on iPhones and Jordans and everything else the world told them to value.”

yasiin bey’s general notion is that streaming undervalues music and the artists who create it. He feels streaming has industrialised music. He recalls words once said by a Spotify executive, encouraging musicians to produce and release music at high volumes, instead of complaining about the streaming platforms offering artists peanuts for streams. (Spotify pays US$0.0033 per stream, Apple Music US$0.01, YouTube Music US$0.008 and TIDAL US$0.013.)

“I was annoyed by that assertion,” yasiin bey says, “I could be wrong, but I don’t imagine that the owner of Spotify has ever created anything artistic. It appears that he doesn’t have a real understanding of what it takes to actually be an artist at all, whether you are professional or not. It takes time; it takes focus; it takes a certain level of dedication to even cultivate a natural talent.

“And it’s not something that’s necessarily happening on this Ford Motor Company-type assembly-line corporate robot schedule, as some people would assume. When people talk about works of art, you are not talking about inanimate objects; you’re not talking about a pair of Levi’s 501 jeans that has all of the rivets placed strategically, because it’s a dynamic, customised experience. It’s not a standardised thing.”

Black Star joins a reasonably large number of artists who are actively trying to hold streaming platforms accountable. They feel musicians should be paid more for their work – like in the “golden days” when albums were still a thing you could spend your money on.

Recently, after his acquisition of legendary West Coast label Death Row, Snoop Dogg removed all of the label’s music from streaming platforms – albums such as Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle and Tha Doggfather, among other albums by Daz Dillinger, Lady of Rage and Kurupt – “because those platforms don’t pay,” he explained during a Drinks Champ interview. “And those platforms get millions and millions and millions of streams, and nobody gets paid other than the record labels. So, what I wanted to do was snatch my music off; create a platform that is something sort of similar to Amazon, Netflix, Hulu. It’ll be a Death Row app. And then the music, in the meantime, will live in the metaverse.”

One of music’s biggest global stars, Taylor Swift, was a great opponent of streaming in the 2010s. She once wrote in an Op-Ed on The Wall Street Journal: “Music is art, and art is important and rare. Important, rare things are valuable. Valuable things should be paid for. It’s my opinion that music should not be free, and my prediction is that individual artists and their labels will someday decide what an album’s price point is.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cd_c_0wpaNM/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

For the longest time, Jay-Z’s music was only available on his then-streaming platform TIDAL. Bootlegs of Jay-Z’s music are still hard to come by, to this day – even on YouTube – at Jay-Z’s request. Jay also shared the notion that fans need to spend money to listen to music.

Whereas Jay-Z seems to have since moved on, Taylor Swift, Black Star and many other artists who share the same sentiments about streaming seem to be continuing the fight against time. Not even the biggest pop stars are selling records anymore, but their streaming numbers are astronomical. Sadly, the revenue that comes from streams just doesn’t match that of actual sales, which explains why they are still up in arms.

In their early stages, streaming platforms like Spotify claimed to be pro-artist. When Taylor Swift removed her music from Spotify, the streaming giant responded: “We hope she’ll change her mind and join us in building a new music economy that works for everyone.” Spotify noted that 16 million of its users had played Taylor Swift’s music in the last 30 days and that she had appeared on 19 million playlists.

Playlists are one of the main advantages of streaming; they are great platforms for emerging artists to get discovered by new ears. Talib Kweli notes in the episode of The Midnight Miracle: “Most artists who are signed in the business are on Spotify just through the labels but, for an independent artist like me, I have to decide whether or not to put my music on Spotify. And, for me personally, being available in the marketplace where 95% of people listen to music, it’s worth it for me at this point. Not for every project, but I still play the game.”

Both yasiin bey and Talib Kweli seem to be consumed by the music business and how it relates to artists. For instance, Talib Kweli raps on ‘Supreme Alchemy’, a song from No Fear of Time, “You’ll always be the winner if you decide what the metric is/ Control the game, don’t be the game or the predator.”

In South Africa, streaming is on the rise. But the MP3 is still in demand; Fakaza and Hip-Hop Hub are like a modern-day Viperial.com for (South) African music lovers. Due to high data costs and other constraints, the continent lags behind in technology.

Streaming platforms are generally considered a legal way to consume for a low price or, in terms of Spotify and Deezer’s free-tier plans, for absolutely no cents – just time spent on ads.

Spotify and Apple Music have been in South Africa for a few years. Their growth and good relationship with artists and labels prove that the country is embracing streaming. Both have come up with incubator programmes where they pick artists to promote through editorial support and playlist placements; examples include Apple Music’s Up Next programme and Spotify’s Radar.

But a few artists have decided to hold off on uploading their music to digital service providers (DSPs), and instead, ask that their fans pay them directly for their work.

Eastern Cape rapper, entrepreneur and visionary Jbux released an album titled Boom Box in April 2020 that also never made its way to DSPs. “I had fans deposit money into my account and sent them the album via Google Drive,” Jbux tells HYPE. “I also included videos that I hadn’t uploaded anywhere and a lyric book.”

He makes it clear that this should not be seen as a boycott of DSPs, which he has limited knowledge of, but rather a personal decision for his music. “For me, it really was an exercise to find out how committed people really are to my music,” he says.

He says he was also trying to prove his own theory that, if an artist markets their product in a way that resonates with their supporters, fans will be willing to pay for the product. Jbux’s marketing strategy included a series of video clips in which he broke down his process and the inspiration behind the album’s songs.

“A lot of people did actually buy the album,” says Jbux. “If you get a thousand people buying the album, that’s a lot of money for an independent artist. But a lot of times, we try and go for this mass word and look past the people who are right in front of us.”

Streaming was created as a way to fight piracy in an era when spending money on albums had become a futile exercise for fans. It may have created a good business model for tech companies, but artists don’t gain much financially from the arrangement. Hence, some artists are putting their fans to task. “The best way to thank someone is to pay them,” yasiin bey says.

The post Black Star, Jbux and the case for selling music in the streaming era appeared first on HYPE Magazine.

By The Observer

Kabza De Small is featured on Pervader’s single ‘City Dreams’, but as Papta Mancane, which seems to be his rapper alter ego. On the song, both Young Stunna and Papta Mancane spit melodic verses; honestly, the song feels like it could belong to Emtee.

Young Stunna, who started out as a hip-hop artist, blew up last year as an amapiano act through ‘Adiwele’, a slapper produced by Kabza De Small. On ‘City Dreams’, he makes his way back to the bando over a mellow trap beat that’s reminiscent of Ruff’s production.

Papta Mancane’s verse is delivered in a high-pitch tone towards the end of the song, and it’s a cross between singing and rapping, a standard in modern hip-hop.

It looks like Maphorisa is rubbing off nicely on Kabza. DJ Maphorisa’s rapper alter ego Madumane has been killing verses on amapiano songs in the last few years. He is unbelievably good, in the past there have been rumours that someone ghost-writes for him. Sizwe Alakine and K.O have both been suspected by fans to be behind Madumane’s show-stealing verses. But neither of them has admitted to ever penning any of his verses.

Only time will tell if Papta Mancane will be as prolific as Madumane.

Listen to ‘City Dreams’ by Pervader featuring Young Stunna and Papta Mancane on Apple Music and Spotify.

The post Get familiar with Papta Mancane, Kabza De Small’s rapper alter ego appeared first on HYPE Magazine.

Last week, Burna Boy touched down for a show in Zimbabwe. But The African Giant found himself on the top of South Africa’s Twitter trends. South Africans felt the need to make it known that Burna Boy’s popularity in South Africa in the mid-2010s was thanks to AKA.

In South Africa we know Burna Boy because of AKA

And those are straight facts!!

— ChrisExcel (@ChrisExcel102) June 3, 2022

The two musicians, whose bromance in that era was a beautiful sight to behold and the provenance of multiple SA-Naija collaborations, fizzled out towards the end of the decade.

After speculation from fans of the two stars’ beef, Burna Boy made it clear in 2019 that he didn’t fux with Supa Mega anymore. “… it’s f**k  ‪@akaworldwide from now on,” he said in a tweet in September of 2019. This was after The African Giant had, after seeing fake viral videos on Twitter of South Africans harassing Nigerian citizens, made it clear he wouldn’t set foot in Africa ever. It must be noted that deadly xenophobic attacks had occurred in South Africa prior, but Burna Boy’s fury on that particular day was ignited by videos that weren’t taken in South Africa.

“I have not set foot in SA since 2017,” he said in one of his many tweets sent out around the same time. “And I will NOT EVER go to South Africa again for any reason until the SOUTH AFRICAN government wakes the fuck up and really performs a miracle because I don’t know how they can even possibly fix this.”

Burna hasn’t set foot in SA since then.

Where it started: All Eyes on Me

After the release of his album debut album L.I.F.E in 2013, Burna Boy became certified in Nigeria, and the brightness of his star reached SA. And, in true Naija hustler fashion, Burna made sure to show face in the country where he was gaining popularity to shake some hands and ensure he capitalised on his popularity.

SA became Burna’s second home; he filmed the music video for his single ‘Don Gorgon’ in Cape Town and eventually struck a bromance with Supa Mega. They collaborated on the continental smash hit ‘All Eyes On Me’ which also featured Da L.E.S and JR. Produced by Tweezy, ‘All Eyes on Me’ sampled Brenda Fassie’s explosive ‘Ngiyakusaba’.

More collaborations followed: the pair appeared on Sarkodie’s ‘Special Someone, Da L.E.S’ ‘P.A.I.D’ and connected again on another AKA smash ‘The Baddest’, which also featured Khuli Chana and Yanga Chief. In December 2015, Burna Boy dropped the song ‘Birthday’ which featured Supa Mega, Kid X and Da L.E.S. We didn’t know then, but the song marked the end of an era as it would be the last time we would ever hear Burna and AKA in one song.

It’s not farfetched to say AKA and Burna’s collaboration led to a wave of monumental SA-Naija collaborations; AKA obliterated Ice Prince’s ’N-Word Remix’, while Emmy Gee’s AB Crazy and DJ Dimplez-assisted ‘Rands and Nairas’ and its remix, with appearances from Ice Prince, Cassper Nyovest, Phyno and ANATII, became the unofficial mantra for these collaborations. Look, you just had to be there.

Burna Boy told the UK music show Factory 78 how he and AKA got to connect in a 2016 interview.

“I didn’t even know AKA personally at the time (of ‘All Eyes on Me’), but we knew of each other and we liked each other’s music but we had never really met. He called my manager and sent me a beat for his album and a couple of hours later I sent it back. That was it‚ and we just became brothers‚” Burna Boy said. “South Africa is a place where they’ve been through a lot so their souls are very deep. So, me coming from Nigeria and them identifying that soul in the music made them hang on tight.”

Beef

But, towards the end of the decade, the SA-Naija collaborations had stopped. And fans were suspecting a hostile spirit between Burna Boy and AKA, who were at the forefront of the connection between the two countries.

So, did AKA introduce South Africans to Burna as some South African claimed on Twitter? For the most part, yes. But, AKA, who was already poppin in Naija since the days of ‘Victory Lap’, also benefited from his string of collaborations with Burna Boy and a slew of other artists from the continent, ranging from Patoran King to Mozambique’s LayLizzy.

The truth is Burna Boy would eventually have become The African Giant without AKA, but as history stands, his introduction to the greater SA music industry was largely due to his collaborations with AKA. ‘All Eyes on Me’ is a noteworthy moment in their careers and both Nigeria and South Africa’s songbooks.

In 2020, Burna Boy appeared on Kabza De Small’s ‘Sponono’ which also featured Madumane, Wizkid and Cassper Nyovest. The single was a lukewarm hit for a song by some of the biggest African music stars (the animated music video is only on its way to 700k views more than a year since its release).

Burna’s appearance on the remix of Master KG and Nomcebo Zikode’s global hit ‘Jerusalema’ in 2020 was more impactful. Unlike with ‘Sponono Sam’, Burna appeared on the music video and even sang the song’s Zulu hook. Burna performed the ‘Jerusalema’ in his solo Madison Square Gardens show in April, a subtle gesture to South Africa by The African Giant.

The post A brief history of Burna Boy and AKA’s bromance and era-defining collaborations appeared first on HYPE Magazine.

 It had been close to five years since a South African rapper had blown up since A-Reece and Nasty C. See, South Africa has a lot of rappers, but it’s not a majority of them who become crossover superstars. For years, that gap existed and would only be filled in in 2021. By the time Blxckie released his debut album B4Now a year ago, it was inevitable he was, as he rapped on ‘David’, on his way up.

A year since the release of B4Now, which was recorded at producer 808 Sallie’s place during the first lockdown of 2020, Blxckie is evidently proud. “I didn’t want to have a crazy concept in my debut album,” he says during the launch of his collaboration with fashion brand RedBat at Sportscene in Sandton City Mall towards the end of May. “This is who I am, if ever people want to know who I am, they can go listen to it and pretty much know who Blxckie is.”

The journey Blxckie took has been taken by many before — leave your hometown for the big city with your big dreams. But, very few return home stars. For the rest of 2021, Blxckie, who left Durban a hopeful SoundCloud rapper in 2020, was the most sought-after rapper in South Africa; a Blxckie verse became the cheat code; the list of collaborators ranges from Priddy Ugly to DJ Maphorisa, Young Stunna and Ckay. The streams soared organically. Blxckie is a rapper’s rapper who’s able to incorporate amapiano and R&B into his music without confusing or insulting his core fanbase. A natural charismatic star.

B4Now was a mixture of hard raps and melodies over mostly trap-based production. Fan-favourite ‘Sika’, an extra smooth joint where he sings over a beat carried by the log drum, was a fruitful experimentation with amapiano. The single ‘Kwenzekile’ featuring Madumane and Chang Chello, released in September 2021, took off where ‘Sika’ left off. His follow-up to B4Now, an R&B EP titled 4LUV, was released fittingly during the month of love. “It’s a project I put together recently to show a different side of myself. After seeing the success of ‘Hold’ and other love songs that I have out,” he said at the EP’s listening session held in Bryanston.

The song ‘Umoya’ from 4LUV is another sibling of ‘Sika’. ‘Umoya’, Blxckie reveals, was made two days after ‘Kwenzekile’. “Shout out to Herc,” he said, “We’ve been trying to create a certain sound which is slowing down amapiano beats, have super crazy chord progressions and just sing over them instead of just rapping. I have a knack and love for kwaito and slow tempo type of things and to sing on them is a joy to me. Seeing the success of “kwenzekile” and sika, I was like it would be dope to have a song of that genre we tryna create and just make it more romantic.”

Blxckie moves like water; he’s smooth yet vicious, and allows his path to guide him to avoid disturbing his momentum. But he’s still subversive enough to avoid predictability. He adds his own touch to whatever genre he chooses to explore.

Today, it’s back to the raps. As he launches the RedBat collaboration, his new song ‘Khuphuka’ is only several hours old. ‘Khuphuka’, which leans on a catchy hook that has the ability to start mosh pits, is a rap song that finds Blxckie trying to break down how he was able to attain this level of success. “How I got all of this money, bro I don’t remember,” he raps on the hook.

‘Khuphuka’ captures Blxckie coming to terms with his success. He tells the audience he’s kind of been on autopilot the past year. “Because my blow-up happened during the lockdown, I haven’t experienced fame that much,” he tells a fan who asks him how life has been since he became a star. “It’s only when I go back home that I get to feel it.”

The last two weeks have been a consolidation of Blxckie’s journey. Two weeks ago, he was handed a total of 10 plaques one for a double-platinum single, three for platinum singles, five for gold singles and one for B4Now going gold. Some rappers go their whole careers without achieving what Somnyana achieved in just one year.

Congratulating Blxckie on Twitter, Cassper Nyovest stated the obvious when he called him “the hottest in the game right now”.

His collaboration with RedBat on a series of T-shirts is a celebration of the first anniversary of B4Now’s release, a tangible token for him and his fans. He shares he was involved in the creation of the items. During the launch, he is asked about the colour green which dominates the range of Ts and is the colour of his grills. “It represents Blxckie,” he says. “Any post that I make is pretty much green. I used to watch a lot of National Geographic growing up and it kind of etched into my head.”

His raps and infamous ‘ye ye ye ye’ adlibs will be etched in our heads years from now. As Blxckie takes the moment in, he attributes his success to consistency and having a good team.

Revisit B4Now on Apple Music and Spotify.

The post Khuphuka: A year of Blxckie’s debut album ‘B4Now’ appeared first on HYPE Magazine.

We rank A-Reece’s albums and EPs from good to excellent.

 By making a claim as bold as “the best rapper in Africa”, as A-Reece did two weeks ago, you inevitably invite scrutiny. When those who are new to Reece take a closer look in order to make an informed decision on this claim, they will find a compelling argument – Reece is an accomplished artist who plays the game by his own rules, and he is winning.

The numbers are impressive (millions of streams and sold-out shows), too. And, what makes him even more interesting is that he doesn’t have the industry machine behind him like most of his peers do, just a raging army of fans who are ready to fight any non-believer.

I’M THE BEST RAPPER IN AFRICA.

— A-REECE. (@reece_youngking) May 11, 2022

The 24-year-old rapper and producer from Pretoria also has one thing a majority of rappers don’t have – a sizeable catalogue: a mixtape, a string of EPs, albums and strong stand-alone songs.

 Reece surely does make the shortlist? We will leave that to you to decide.

Below is a guide into A-Reece’s extensive catalogue; we rank his albums and EPs from good to excellent. 

 Note: Projects that are shorter than four songs (such as the Gwan Big Up Urself series) were not considered for this list. Neither was his 2013 mixtape #ForeverKing as it includes recycled instrumentals.

Let’s get into it.

10. Cutaways (2016)

Released two months before his debut album Paradise, Cutaways is what its title suggests; songs left off of the then-upcoming album. As a teaser, it achieved the goal of whetting fans’ appetites for what was one of the most anticipated albums of 2016. However, outside of that, Cutaways didn’t offer much; no versatility lyrically or otherwise. As a result, Cutaways is a forgettable entry in Reece’s catalogue. But it’s still a decent passive listen carried by Reece’s solid raps and youthful energy.   

9. The Reece Effect (2019)

Probably the most criticised project in this catalogue, The Reece Effect suffered as a result of listener fatigue. In that era, Reece was flooding the internet with singles and videos, which was cool, but his subject matter and production were starting to border on monotony. The Reece Effect is the least inspired A-Reece has sounded and the features couldn’t save the project either. Still, it included solid songs like ‘We Both Know Better’ and ‘$trange Habit$’, which remain notable entries in Reece’s rich inventory. 

8. Browniez EP (2014)

Under pH Raw X and Khuli Chana’s guidance, it seemed A-Reece would take the motswako route as can be heard on Browniez EP released in 2014, under Khuli’s Mythron Records and Raw X Studios. Reece admitted to being inspired by HHP as a youngster in a 2016 interview. “HHP is the reason why I started buying hard copies, dawg,” Reece said. “HHP was the first rapper in my life I told myself, ‘yo, Imma buy this album’. So, he played a major role in this music thing for me.” The first song on Browniez EP, ‘1000 Degreez’, named after the crew Reece was a member of before the fame, paid homage to his backpack rap background from his rappity rap delivery to name-dropping Nas, Rakim, Biggie and other hip-hop legends. “The lyrics I write come from the spirit of Pac and mind views/ The gimmicks you bite come from the rappers that I chew,” he rapped intimidatingly over a head-bobbin boom bap rhythm.

But the rest of Browniez EP was largely motswako – even though most of his raps were still in English, he threw a reasonable amount of Tswana bars over bouncy beats and came up with catchy hooks like a true motswakolista. Reece was only 16, still finding his voice on the EP, but he was showing immense potential. “First time I heard Reece,” Khuli Chana said in a 2019 HYPE cover story, “it was mind-blowing, you know. For me, it was just like, sh*t I guess there’s a whole lot more from where we come from. And then I knew it was motswako-inspired. I could pick it up. I already knew where he was from, so it felt like okay cool, there’s definitely like a brighter future for the sh*t that we do.” Reece’s homage to Cassper Nyovest titled ‘Cassper’s Picture’, where he poured his heart out about the come-up, is the song that caught Khuli’s attention. Browniez EP isn’t streaming currently, but day-one Reece fans have it somewhere and revisit it every now and then to remind themselves just how far The Boy has come.

7. Paradise (2016)

Reece’s debut is good, but had it been shorter, it would have been great and would sure rank higher up on this list. But, unfortunately, clumsy executive producing and editing let it down. It was another item on Ambitiouz Entertainment’s conveyor belt of bloated and formulaic albums, an approach that worked for some of the artists on the roster, but not necessarily Reece, who would go on to make way better music as an independent artist. Reece has hinted to interference during the creation of Paradise and famously rapped, “Funny thing ’bout this whole sh*t/ Making Paradise was a living hell” on ‘Pick You Up’ by Riky Rick.

 Still, inside Paradise lies a great album – on songs like the title track, ‘Mngani’, ‘Zimbali’, ‘What U in 4’ and ‘You Welcome (Outro)’, Reece made it known he was on his way up and, with refinement, would become one of the best in the country (or the continent).

 The highlight of Paradise is, of course, ‘Family’ where Reece and his brother P-Jay (you call him Jay Jody now) tell a moving story about their family, using their father as an entry point. “The song is so personal, everyone in the studio was in deep silence throughout the entire time Jay recorded his verse,” Reece told Apple Music a few years ago.

 With Paradise, A-Reece was transitioning from a lyricist to a rapper. He rapped, “Look, I rap to impress/ Finesse/ You can stay with your underground connect/ Cuz I don’t wanna starve, n*gg*/ These girls want a superstar, n*gg*” on ‘What U in 4’. ‘Make Up Your Mind’, ‘Hamba Nami’ and ‘Sebenza’ sounded like songs made with radio in mind. ‘Couldn’t’, the song that impressed AE, leading to his signing, had the cheat code, an Emtee hook, added to it to give it that next-level feel, and it worked.

 With all its shortcomings, Paradise is still an important album in South African hip-hop history as it helped launch one of the most gifted and popular rappers of our generation. Hopefully, the lesson AE learned from this is that some artists are better off left to do them to the fullest, even if it doesn’t seem like their aesthetic is marketable.  

6. And I’m Only 21 (2018)

And I’m Only 21 was released on 21 October, a special date for Reece and his fans: Paradise and its follow-up From Me To You & Only You dropped on the date in 2016 and 2017. The five-track EP was a reminder to those who needed it that the man running the game was only 21.

Lasting for only 16 minutes, And I’m Only 21 is punchy and makes sure to not spend a lot of time in one place. Every song is well-crafted, consisting of great rapping from a confident Reece which goes along with sung hooks.

 The single ‘Holding Hands’ showed a rapper comfortable with himself, living a lifestyle away from the spotlight: “I’m feeling cool, calm, collected in my flannel shirt,” he sang on the hook after stating that, from where he’s standing, he’s seeing “…shawty after shawty and they holding hands/ Walking in my crib like it’s a party, it’s a party/ Can we bring more friends?”

At the time of its release, Reece had broken the internet for stealing the show on a B.E.T Cypher alongside Shane Eagle and Nasty C. The last song, ‘To The Top Please’, on And I’m Only 21 was an acceptance speech by Reece after winning a Grammy, presumably in the future. In the song, Reece attests to playing the game on his own terms and acknowledges those who’ve played a role in his career: “Grateful that my momma let her son rap/ Momma look up your boy is where the sun at/ Now the family can get a suntan and yes we are/ Shining brighter than the sun can.” No lie was told.

5. The Burning Tree (2021)

The Burning Tree wasn’t overthought. A project based on the experience of smoking weed isn’t necessarily the most commercially viable route to take in South Africa. But then, when does post-AE A-Reece ever play by the rules?  Evident in its boom bap-leaning sound and less emphasis put on hooks, TBT is meant to be consumed as a whole. It’s an experience, kinda like the very process of getting stoned. A-Reece sounds unbothered and laces the beats with graceful ease, following the mellow soundscape with the smoothest flows.

 One doesn’t go into a project titled The Burning Tree expecting anything more than stoner raps, and Reece delivers on his promise here. On songs like ‘For My Sanity’, as a listener, you feel like you are there with him and his squad of collaborators as they roll up. He sings, “Soon as I wake, I tell myself that I won’t smoke anymore/ The same day, I’m with my n*gg*s rolling up again.” In the same song, he makes it clear that burning trees isn’t purely a recreational activity; oftentimes it’s for his sanity.

 For this 4/20 release, the rap god roped in fellow PTA rap stoners to smoke some of the beats with him. 25K appears on ‘Red Dragon’ alongside Jay Jody who impressively and fittingly references 25K’s flow on his single ‘Trap Jumpin’. IMP THA DON appears on the jazzy ‘Bellator’ while Maggz is featured on ‘More Than Enough’, where both rappers colourfully describe a steamy session (side note: apparently, it feels 10 times better when stoned).

4. heaveN caN waiT: thE narroW dooR, vol. 1 (2021) by BLUE TAPE (A-Reece and Jay Jody)

During the recording of both Today’s Tragedy, Tomorrow’s Memory: The mixtape and heaven caN waiT, A-Reece and Jay Jody were still grieving their father who passed away in 2020. Their first joint album as BLUE TAPE opens with a clip sampled from the 2001 film Waking Life: “And so time is actually just this constant saying no to God’s invitation.” Well, the title claims heaven can wait, so Reece and Jay Jody still choose to bless us with their presence this side, for now.

 heaveN caN waiT might just be the most dynamic release from Reece as the two rappers explore a wider range of subjects than in previous releases. They rap about living life to the fullest on the album opener and explore the struggles of growing up in the hood on ‘blvcK kidZ’. On ‘thE confrontatioN’, Jay Jody gives a rundown of how the music industry actually operates, raw and uncut, while in his verse, Reece takes time to address the dramatic The Wrecking Crew disbandment. heaveN caN waiT made it clear that these two brothers bring out the best in each other without sounding overly competitive. Their chemistry is shown in their film and hip-hop references and interpolations throughout the album which puts the back cover (showing a room full of posters of hip-hop album covers) into perspective. The subtlety on IceMan Beatz’s production took several spins to grasp after years of hearing Reece over MashBeatz’s production. As a result, heaveN caN waiT is a slow-burner with a high replay value. Vol. 2 needs to happen. 

3. L3 (Long Lost Letters) (2018) by A-Reece, Ecco & Wordz

 Still on the celebratory streak he started in From Me To You & Only You, A-Reece collaborated with then-The Wrecking Crew members Wordz and Ecco the Beast for another easy listen that showcased their impeccable rap skills. The song ‘Better Daze (May 25th)’ was a celebration of A-Reece’s first million views on YouTube as an independent artist. With time, it was getting clearer to Reece that he had made the right decision leaving the label and, essentially, the whole mainstream music industry behind. With lines like, “May 25th, I can’t believe we hit a million views/ The only way to change the game is to break the rules”, L3 (Long Lost Letters) gave the listener a sense of what being part of TWC was like at the time, as the trio emphasised on ‘Welcome 2 My Life’– “look at my life, it’s lit”; it sure was a life to envy.

 With sexually-charged songs like ‘B T P H’ (an acronym for “bring the p*ssy here”), and ‘XXX’, L3 is an album centred on the pursuit of pleasure, an everyday thing for the trio and their affiliate collaborators Flvme, Ex Global and IMP THA DON. A-Reece, Ecco and Wordz showed a natural chemistry as they effortlessly devoured a great selection of soulful beats.

 The beats on L3, produced by A-Reece and MashBeatz, were soulful boom-bap that didn’t sound dated at all. L3 is a modern SA hip-hop cult classic that will likely stand the test of time. Ecco hasn’t worked with Reece since TWC disbanded, but Reece and Wordz still make for a special pairing in their countless collaborations, which we are still being treated to in the present day.

2. Today’s Tragedy, Tomorrow’s Memory: The mixtape (2021)

From Me To You And Only You and Today’s Tragedy, Tomorrow’s Memory are like yin and yang – one is a celebration while the other is, as Reece once put it, “transition from grey clouds to a clear sky”, five years later. Less than a minute into Today’s Tragedy, Tomorrow’s Memory, Reece has made it clear he’s grieving and frustrated with how events have turned out. The album opens with the line: “Long gone are the better days”, making it clear that things are about to get intensely emotional, as the rapper had just lost his father around the time of its creation.

 On the second song, ‘HIBACHI’, he raps that he’s been “turning rappers to Hibachi steak” in the spirit of competition. Like grief itself, TTTM meanders between moments of emotional emptiness and gusts of heavy utterances. ‘THE SAME THING’ is scant lyrically and finds Reece and his brother repeating the thought “Damn, life is a motherf*ck*r/ Hard to sit back and see the same thing that happened to me happen to you” multiple times and coming to terms with the surreality of death. ‘RE$IDUAL $ELF-IMAGE’, on the other hand, is a four-minute epic where Reece talks his sh*t, heartfelt and sentimental, over a drumless, key-laden beat by MashBeatz. Ayanda Jiya’s vocals add to the soul and mark yet another gem from the musical twins.

 TTTM is a deeply personal offering from A-Reece, and its guest list mostly consists of individuals Reece is close to, frequent collaborator Ayanda Jiya with whom he hasn’t missed ever, his brother Jay Jody and close friend Wordz. BELO SALO was the newest addition to this close friends circle. On ‘BRAVO’, Reece gave the people the collaboration they had been waiting for; with Stogie T who delivered a momentous verse that weaves scenes from the film No Country For Old Men into his own story.

 While making TTTM, Reece, who had mostly lived in his head prior to this, found himself sympathising with others; a great example is ‘NO MAN’S LAND’, a socially conscious song that was resultant from him going back home after an extended period of being away. There, he got a wake-up call: “My n*gg* got a lot to bare/ And here I was thinking beefing with these rappers is a real problem/ N*gg*s in the hood got bigger problems,” he rapped. On the album’s closing song, ‘DOTTED LINEZ’, A-Reece revisited his departure from AE five years later and admitted to disliking the way the industry as a whole operates and sounded proud of the decisions he had made thus far.

1. From Me To You & Only You (2017)

Reece’s first full-length album since leaving Ambitiouz Entertainment, From Me To You & Only You, was the sounds of a man feeling optimistic about the future, a rapper who had, just a year prior, embarked on a new path and was feeling like he had his whole life ahead of him. A rapper not afraid to admit he’d never been on a private jet because he had that much faith in his future on the popular single ‘On My Own’.

 The opening lines of FMTYAOY set the tone for new beginnings: “Went back to my mama crib cuz the food she cook amazing.” Albeit being collaborative, the album had enough solo joints – ‘Rio’, ‘Off The Rip’, ‘Rarri’ and others – to prove Reece wasn’t leaning on features, but rather meeting them halfway. Strong appearances from Zoocci Coke Dope, Flvme, Rowlene, Enkei and Ayanda Jiya were vital contributions to this grand soirée shaped by MashBeatz, with whom Reece worked hand-in-hand until recently.

 FMTYAOY is near perfect and is a body of work that made a statement, not in so many words but in its genuinely jovial mood. There’s not one wasted moment on here, the album is nothing but a blissful experience that never fails to please. 

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story failed to acknowledge A-Reece as a producer on L3. The error has been amended.

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